Did Jesus Gossip???

I read an article last night about having the mind of Christ. This writing does not have anything to do with what the article was talking about, but it made me think more about what having the “Mind of Christ” really is and what all it can mean to me and “us” as a body of Christ.

When we think of children we think of our own or if we don’t have our own we think of someone’s kids at the least, or if not, we surely can remember some of our own childhood. Kids love to pretend. They can have a big box and pretend it’s a stove, or 5 or 6 rocks and pretend they are people. They can use their imaginations to pretend they are super heroes, pilots of big jet airplanes, bank tellers, famous football players, or they can even sit about anywhere and pretend they are driving a car and so on…

Nearly all of us did this when we were kids. Why is it that we are not able to imagine what it would be like to have the mind of Christ? I mean to at least try to imagine.

We’ve read all of the Bible stories. We know what JESUS did. We know His character or at least SHOULD! Yet, we leave it at that.

Let us think for a little bit what it might be like to have the mind of Christ or to even pretend like we are close to having the mind of Christ.

Does it mean we are superior to “most” people because we have the mind of Christ? Alternatively, does it mean we should learn to be servants even to those our fleshly worldly minds despise?

Are we really better than anyone else? Are we less than anyone else?

Does it mean we feed hungry people so that we can say we did. Or does it mean to feed someone who needs it without feeling the need to tell everyone you did it?

Did Jesus sit around with His friends and talk about people? Did He say, now that you are my disciple you are worthy to hear and tell things about other people. Did Jesus feel the need to vent and gripe or complain about His problems that he had with “other” people to the ones closest to Him? Or, did He only call on the Father?

Did he have lunch with His best friends and talk about how this person has a problem with this and that person has a problem with that and sit and judge and condemn this person to the point were He deemed them unworthy to do God’s will?

Or did he build people up and tell them to sin no more? Did they sin no more? Would you sin anymore if Jesus actually came down IN THE FLESH and met you face to face and said…Go and stop gossiping…or go and stop being hateful…or go and stop drinking yourself to death…

Now I’m talking about right here right now…He knocks on your door and He is really truly JESUS without a doubt.

I’m not talking about a Godly person, a famous evangelist or your favorite pastor! I’m talking about JESUS!!!

If He overheard your venting (to trustworthy people no doubt) about… “oh this person drives me nuts – they send me too many emails (and long ones at that), or they call me all the time, and I’m just too busy for this. Don’t they know I have work for the LORD to do?!!!”

AND

“I know they are hurting but I can’t help them…I’m just too busy! I have projects that the LORD has given me!!” OR “They need help, but they are just going to have to read their Bible and find it on their own because that’s what I had to do!”

“There are so many people out there they can talk to, why do they want to talk to me?” – “My job is to serve the Lord with what I’m doing, NOT help them overcome their problems. I’m not a counselor or a pastor!!

They just need to straighten up, get into the word and make good choices.” I’m too busy working for the LORD!”

“ How did they get my number anyway?” Are you thinking right now you are too important to give out your number, because God has called you to a higher purpose, than dealing with these types or any types of people?

Is this how Christ spoke to His friends? Would he have? Is this how Christ behaved?

When and how do we decide it is okay to do this? Is it when we decide WE MUST have the mind of Christ because we work almost every waking moment serving Him and we have our like minded friends who must have the mind of Christ because they think like we do. PLUS they keep things confidential. So I can vent to them. Is that right??

DOES THAT MAKE IT OKAY???

Is it okay because you have been a Christian for a long time, or that you are in some type of ministry, or you are in leadership of something and you are only talking to other “long time Christians” or other “Ministry people” or others in “leadership”? Does that make it okay?

Did JESUS see people that were hurting as obstacles that might hurt His ministry or did He reach out to meet their needs if they asked???

Yes Jesus was “to the point” and had to be sometimes. But did he discuss it with his friends first? Did He say “we need to decide if this person is worthy enough to do this or that, I mean after all they have so many problems and they are just annoying if you ask me”

Does it say anywhere in the Bible that he discussed with a couple people over breakfast, how he was going to meet the Samaritan woman around lunch time and really set her straight, because He’s really getting sick and tired of this?

Did He plan how He was going to find some clever scheming way to get certain people to either follow His way or the Highway? Or did He just tell the truth and let the people decide.

What was the truth He told? Did He remind the Samaritan woman of how everyone didn’t like her and why? Did he tell her she has been a worthless person and it’s no wonder people don’t like her? Did He tell her she had to go out and PROVE herself to people that she had changed???

That is a big one! Is it not?

Do we not many times expect people to prove themselves? Why are we so leery of people when they find freedom from some bondage?

What a good way to put those people right back into bondage!What a great way for the Devil to use us.

Whispering to us to be un-accepting and suspicious. Telling us, that person probably didn’t really change, they just want to fool everyone. A tiger never changes its stripes ya know? He’ll be right back where he was, you watch, he does this all the time!

Pretty soon that person is ignored, pushed aside, tired of feeling like they have to prove something, because we treat them like they do… eventually that will rub off and that person. They will sense it and don’t think for a second that the devil isn’t working on them too. Saying, these people don’t like you, you will never be accepted. You’ve been too bad, you are a loser. Then when this person falls what do we say???

I knew that would happen.

I saw that coming!

Well of course you did!!!

You have been saying it all along!!!

What did you do to help them grow?

Who do we think we are sometimes???

Come on!! Where is the support of the body? We are part of a vine. Why do we continually let people break off instead of passing the life that flows through us to them?

Who told us we are more worthy? If any of us think we have been given the insight or special knowledge from God to know this person will fall and fail and never really be a Christian. I would say you better look in the mirror and ask yourself – Am I acting like a false prophet (because a true prophet does not speak evil into people’s lives)? Am I doing the work of the devil?

Isn’t that what psychics do? They predict. Do you think the Devil is not smart enough to hear those predictions and try his very best to make them happen? And guess what? He usually succeeds because we ignore it!

We’re too busy with our little “projects for the LORD”, too busy to be bothered, too busy trying to be perfect or too busy to carry yet another burden. NOT to mention too busy trying to “look good”! Putting on the big “I’m so perfect” show!

What does Christ think is more important? What do you think God thinks about us behaving that way?

What excuses do we use? – God loves me too much and He knows I have enough problems of my own, He wouldn’t want me to talk to this person with so many problems which might drag me down even more! – If God really wanted to help this person, He will help him. – This person just gets on my nerves and I know God wouldn’t put this person in my life, because he’s not enough like me. – God already has a purpose for me and I’m doing it, I don’t need to do anything else. – They’ve already been told 6 times what they need to do. – Well they aren’t coming around me anymore, so why should I talk to them? I don’t have to like everyone! (here’s a big one) – They aren’t my responsibility – I’m sure there are many more…

I’m not talking about people deliberately sinning against the church, I’m talking about real people that are hurting and in need of grace. Just because we are human does not mean we are incapable of giving grace!

The questions are:

How many people do we run out of the church because of our attitudes toward them?

How many, if just given some grace and someone to say they believe in them as many times as it takes, could we keep in the church?

Did Jesus say to only encourage someone a couple of times and then quit because if they don’t change in a few weeks they aren’t even worth the bother or our time?

Could this person or that person have been put in my life to test me? To see how I would respond? To see if I am trying to have the mind of Christ? To see if I have the fruit of the Spirit or am I at least working on it?

Could I be creative and change my approach toward this or that person and maybe say one positive thing to them that could change their life forever?

Could it be possible that this person does not come around you because they know by your actions that you do not like them?

Could it be possible that you have been complaining about them behind their back and putting the devil to work?

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Okay, here is a true story for you of how our supposed “private” words can do damage.

I met a new friend when I was about 18. She was new to town, new to school and I had been around here for at least 10 years but I knew what it was like to be new around here, so I wanted to befriend her so she wasn’t alone. Not too many people were befriending her at the time.

People had already started talking about her. She was a pretty girl and such a sweetheart. She had a sense of confidence about her, which many people wish they had.

I always heard people talking about her. I knew they were jealous. That is what a lot of people do in high school right? I just ignored it. I didn’t really have the guts at that age to stick up for her, but I never agreed with them, so I felt okay about it at the time. If I could go back, I would have done it differently.

Of course, no one would say any of it to her face. Soon she started hanging around with these people as much as I did. It did not matter though, they still talked about her behind her back, even though they had no good reason to. They even had less of a reason to talk bad about her because they were finding out she was a good person. It just made them feel better about themselves to put her down, I guess.

She never knew these people talked bad about her. She did not have a clue. That was something that I carried, but I would never tell her.

Here is the thing. Little by little over the months and years, her confidence was chipped away. She became a little more withdrawn with every passing week.

One day she confided in me. She told me, you know what? I feel really bad about myself for some reason. I feel like no one likes me. I feel like a loser! I do not feel like I used to. I feel like everyone is against me. I do not feel comfortable around these people anymore.

I reassured her that she was NOT a loser and said everything I could to help her to feel good about herself. We stayed friends for a long time. I still consider her a friend, but we just went our separate ways only to run into each other sometimes and say Hi and look at how each other’s kids have grown.

The point is, she never could prove that people said awful things about her, but I knew they did. Just because you think a person cannot hear what you are saying about them doesn’t mean you are not hurting them.

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I would like to give you one more example. Some of you might have been here before too:

I was hurt and lied to one time by someone in the church. I told someone that I had known all my life. I really just wanted to get it off of my chest and that was it. This person took it upon herself to go to the pastor and complain becuase she cared about me.

The pastor ended up going to the person. All of this happened while I thought nothing was happening. I had forgotten it by the time I found out it was blown way out of proportion. Then it came back to me. Not only were things twisted and added to they were things that should not have been confronted in the first place, becuase they were not really that important.

If I thought they were that important, I would have went to the person myself.

Yes just a little venting session turned into something HUGE. I was told by another person that this person said I was lying. Just a little more fuel to the fire. Well I decided to confront the person then. What a disaster it turned into.

Had I just handed it to God in the first place instead of going to someone else and whining about it. The petty little thing would have never been made into anything big and nothing would have ever become of it.

That one was for God! Not me, not the person I told it to, not the pastor, or anyone but God. It was a little spark that ignited when I decided to get it off my chest after church that day. The devil worked his way through that one pretty good as well.

To this day, the woman wont talk to me, she wont even look at me. Which is okay because that is her choice (her free will), but it would be better if that care would have just been cast away on God for Him to deal with. I did apologize to the woman, but to some people it doesn’t matter. I do wish I could go back on that, but it doesn’t do much good to live life regretting.

From this moment on is what matters. We cannot change our past and God doesn’t want us dwelling on our past in a negative way, but in a way that it can be learned from.

YOU SEE:

If they don’t find out what you say by hearing it from someone,which a lot of times they will because those “trustworthy” people are perfectly capable of letting you down.

Think of this, you might know this person is trustworthy but they tell someone else who they think is trustworthy and then that person tells someone else that is trustworthy…before you know it, it hits the wrong person and by that time…who knows what is said!

Laying all that aside, even if your person of trust doesn’t tell anyone, the devil will try his hardest to put his troops to work and speak these very things into the “talked about” person’s head that came straight from your mouth. The devil will try to make this person insecure and he knows our weaknesses! One way or another the spoken words are used to steal, kill and destroy.

This is why God said to keep your tongue from evil!! He did not say sometimes, or only when you are around certain people.

He said just do it!!

When you speak evil out of your mouth you are giving the demons some work to do. Is that what you want???

Why not speak good things of people and try to only see the good in them. Speak good about them and let the army of God work in their lives instead of the devil and his demons.

Do NOT think your words said “behind people’s back” do not hurt them. It doesn’t matter who you say it to and it does not matter how trustworthy your source is.

You are telling the devil and you are giving him plenty of work to do to tear this person down even more!

Let me say another thing, just by thinking tearing down thoughts toward a person isn’t much better. It’s a little better perhaps, but it’s not much better if any. That is why the Lord says to love your neighbor as yourself.

People aren’t as dumb as we might think. Yes they do need to learn not to be offended eventually, they do need to learn how to be strong in Christ eventually, BUT in the meantime we are to feed them “spiritually”. We are to disciple them.

IF you are thinking those “bad” thoughts toward them, I can guarantee you are not discipling them as you are called to do, you are not speaking kind words to them and building them up, you are not encouraging them!

Sometimes a simple “Good to see you today” is enough, if that is all you can do.

We are supposed to resist the enemy always, NOT just when he’s up against us. He uses us to defeat others too. We need to resist him then as well. Pray for God to help you in these areas.

You will realize you can love people more than you thought you could.

Granted you cannot reach out to everyone in the world single handedly. But, you can do it for the people God has put in your path. AND if God has put them in your path, you are NOT too busy!

If you are seeing many people as obstacles to stand in the way of “your” goals, do not be so sure you are doing what God is calling you to do.

At least pray about it, if you absolutely believe you cannot do anything else. But don’t talk about them. Pray for them. That is the very least we can do.

Think of this too. God has a purpose for that person [or people] you or I talk negatively about. Jesus loves that person JUST AS MUCH as He loves YOU and I!!

There are reasons God said things. He did not just say them because they sound good.

Now I’m not saying that there are never good reasons to discuss things and people, but we always need to ask ourselves if it is a good Godly reason first and pray about it. More times than not there is no good reason to be talking about someone.

We also need to decide if it is our place to be involved or if we are indeed part of a solution.

What I’m talking about is plain old, I don’t like this person because they do this or that and that gives me the right to tear them down…

So what we need to ask if we are doing these things is:

Do we want work toward having the “Mind of Christ” to lift people up?

Or

Do we want to continue doing the work of the Devil to help destroy people forever?

I believe God will bless you more if you stop talking about people and raking them through the coals. If you have a ministry, I believe He will bless your ministry more if you stop talking about people and tearing them down – chasing them away instead of discipling them.

We are ALL guilty of talking about people – unnecessarily. Even if it’s just because someone hurt our feelings. But what are we going to accomplish by telling someone? If we bring it to God, He will take care of it right?

In fact the reason I started writing this is because I have at times been hurt and went to a friend and started telling them the story of what they did to me, just becuase I felt I had the right to, since they hurt me. It’s also just as easy to justify the “talk” if someone hurts one of your friends feelings.

But if we are to be strong in Christ, we don’t need to do that!

Sources:

Matthew 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

Proverbs 26:22 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Proverbs 11:9 A hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

Proverbs 20:19 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.

Proverbs 11:13 A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

Matthew 12:36-37 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

I Timothy 3:11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

Philippians 2:14-16 Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Colossions 3:12-17 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Psalms 39:1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

James 3:8-10 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

Ephesians 4:23-25 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

2 Corinthians 5: 16-21 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

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